Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials and thank them for their time. With respect to the Minister's predecessor, I think it is Deputy Michael McGrath who has been the champion of the rainy day fund for some years. I will start where the Minister finished, which is around European fiscal rules. In its submission, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, is of the view that the current exemptions are unlikely to provide the kind of flexibility the Minister seems to be seeking in terms of the rainy day fund and avoiding a breach of domestic and EU rules. Has the Minister had any engagement around the design of the rainy day fund to provide it with the flexibility it needs to and to ensure that we are still in compliance with all the various rules?

The Minister spoke about international evidence. The Parliamentary Budget Office has shown us the Estonian example but it did say that there are a few other examples. Has the Minister unearthed other examples at which the committee could look and make a call in terms of the flexibilities?

I think there are possibly two different roles for a contingency reserve fund and a rainy day fund. I think they are probably two different animals. A contingency reserve fund might be something that should be there on an annual basis in the event, which the Minister mentioned in his speech, of some sort of one-off event. An example would be the flooding two years ago. In such a case, money could come from a contingency reserve fund. If that is not needed in a year, the balance left in that fund can go to a rainy day fund, which is much more medium and long term. Is there not an argument to be made in terms of good prudence for two separate funds - a contingency reserve fund and a rainy day fund, which is a much more long-term fund?